There are a lot of things about publishing that I never knew before I was published. Things that, had I known, wouldn’t have made a difference other than making me more informed. Things like promotion. How can a new author expect a publishing house to spend their hard earned money on promotion if the author isn’t willing to attempt to promote themselves?

When you publish a book, the publisher takes a chance on you. They take the chance that you’re going to sell at least enough books to make back the publication costs and the advance you may have gotten. That’s a lot of money, even if they do a small print run. I don’t think it’s too much to ask for the author to help promote themselves. Do you?

I have my own promotional people. I don’t have a lot of money so I can’t pay a lot but there are ways to get yourself seen, make yourself known and get your name out there. Websites, blogs and interviews come to mind. All are free or available for a nominal fee and all give you exposure you wouldn’t normally have had. Yahoo groups are good but be careful that you don’t post too many times and desensitize your readers to your promotional efforts.

Reviewers are very good promotional avenues along with the low priced advertisements you can purchase at their sites. If a review site reviews your books, be sure to thank them for their efforts, even if you don’t want to spend money on cover ads at their sites.

There’s Twitter.com, Myspace.com and Facebook.com to name a few social networking sites that also double as good marketing tools. Don’t shun them because you don’t have the time. Take the time, make the time and spend a few minutes a week there, nurturing your online relationships and you’ll soon see how easy it is to market yourself and get your name and your book out there.

Most importantly, don’t forget to have fun.

By the way, speaking of one of those free marketing avenues, I have a new interview up at Wicked Sexy Writers click here to read it.

Until next time…